The present invention relates to methods, systems and computer program products for altering video images including superimposing objects onto video images, and utilizing said objects and images for use in various manufacturing operations with a machine. The invention is particularly directed to methods, systems, and computer program products that are capable of receiving an image (e.g. digital picture file) of a given work piece (such as a metallic automobile door frame), displaying the image on a video screen, establishing object locations on the image of said work piece for different components to be attached, installed, cut, placed or adhered (e.g. manufacturing operations) to the work piece, and use of said objects and images to aid a machine operator in the manufacturing of the work piece. One novel feature of the present invention is that the software is capable of establishing manufacturing operation locations on an inputted image of a work piece, such as a digital photograph and/or computer-rendered representation of the work-piece. Thus, files containing pictures of things taken by ordinary digital cameras or scanners may be used as input, and these images are manipulated by the invention to display critical location information according to user input. The invention does not require a three-dimensional computer model or a computer aided drawing (CAD) as input. Secondly, this invention is novel is because the software alters the image and/or displays the objects over the image(s) in a sequenced order, so as to guide the operator through the manufacturing process at the machine in real-time.
In the field of manufacturing parts for use in industry, it is common to bend, cut and shape sheets made of metal or other rigid materials into particularly shaped parts which are then used in the construction of a final product (such as the panels making up the box of a desktop computer, the parts needed to assemble an automobile door, etc.). Many such parts also require that holes be cut in certain places, that flanges be established at other locations, and that fasteners be attached to the part. Such fasteners include such things as nuts, threaded studs, rivets, standoffs and the like.
Numerous fastener insertion machines are known in the art. These machines generally include presses or rams that are capable of imparting hundreds if not thousands of pounds of pressure. Uniquely designed tooling is provided to support a given fastener in such a machine, a work piece is set into place adjacent to the tooling, and a ram or anvil is used to insert the fastener into the work piece using the requisite amount of pressure. Folds, bends or holes may also be formed in the work piece using similar equipment. In some cases, the design of the work piece requires that these processes be intermixed in a particular sequence. However, in many cases, all of the folds, bends or cuts are made to the work piece before any fasteners are inserted. It is common for such work pieces to be fabricated at one location, and then taken to another location for insertion of fasteners.
In those cases where the work piece is complete except for the insertion of fasteners, it is often desirable to illustrate and display the type, location and sequence of the insertion of the various fasteners onto the work piece prior to performing and during performance of the actual fastener insertion work. Such illustrative work may be part of the design process so that proper machinery may be set up in a particular sequence for efficient and timely fastener insertions. Once the sequence is established, the illustrative work may be provided at the assembly location so that machine operators may learn and/or review the sequence of tasks during the production process. Hand drawn illustrations, paper-copy print-outs of computer-rendered illustrations, and/or exemplary completed parts are all often inadequate to clearly demonstrate where and on the work piece and in what sequence each fastener is to be inserted.
It is desirable to provide methods, computer systems and computer program products that provide video illustrations of the location, sequence and type of fasteners to be inserted onto a given work piece before and during a manufacturing process. In particular, it is desirable for an operator to be able to import an image of a given work piece into a computer system, and to then establish the location(s), sequence(s) and/or type(s) of fasteners to be inserted onto the work piece using the computer system and the imported image. It is also desirable for a user to be able to call up the images of a given work piece for which the location(s), sequence(s) and/or type(s) of fasteners to be inserted have already been established so that the user may use said images to correctly process and manufacture the work piece and learn, review or check to be sure that the fastener insertion machines are properly operated to accomplish the illustrated tasks.